


Letter Me Compare You To... something really pretty?

by HungryLibrary



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, First Crush, Fluff, first letter confessing said crush
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-05-02 01:12:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5228207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>‘Dear Emerald’</em>, Ruby began. ‘<em>Your eyes are…’</em></p>
<p><em>‘<strike>Wow</strike> <strike>bright as blood</strike>  <strike>enchanting as a cobra’s</strike> <strike>shiny as gemstones</strike>’</em> </p>
<p>Ruby hastily crossed out each try and crumpled up the page, her whole head feeling like it’d been set on fire.</p>
<p>She was no good at this. </p>
            </blockquote>





	Letter Me Compare You To... something really pretty?

That dumb magazine she’d borrowed from Pyrrha hadn’t been made for awkward dorks like her- If she followed it’s advice she’d only embarrass herself and maybe Emerald too along with her.

With a groan the soon-to-be-sixteen year old put dropped her face into her hands.

Humiliating herself wasn’t high on list of things to do, but the Tournament wouldn’t last forever and then the visiting students would be gone-  _Emerald_ would be gone. And so would Ruby’s easiest chance to tell her.

Ruby had no idea how long it would bug her if she didn’t get this off her chest. Probably a while though.

And her team a bit too preoccupied to waste time on her moping.

“Ugh.” She propped herself back up and grabbed a fresh piece of paper. “Why does having a crush have to be such a  _pain?_ ”

_‘Hi, Emerald.’_  Ruby tried again.

_‘You’re nice and you’re badass. When you smile at me my stomach does weird things and it’d be really cool if we could hang out more.’_

This wasn’t a piece of fan mail from a friend. She had to make sure Emerald realized that, somehow.

Shutting her eyes Ruby counted to three and then wrote the rest down in a rush.

_‘This is gonna sound terrible but, your eyes are red like the strawberries which happens to be my favorite food because I like them best, like the way I might like you more than as a friend.  
Sincerely yours (It’d be really great if we could still be friends but if not then that’s okay I get it)_  
_-Ruby Rose’_

Shoving the short letter into an envelope before she could change her mind, Ruby zipped out of the room in a burst of petals.

She had arrived and knocked about ten times in under a second, she had to slow down but it felt like Nora had given her a zap, like Yang was punching her in the chest and man she sure hoped Yang never found out about this.

A minute later the door opened. Ruby nearly jumped and felt her heart fall.

“Hm?” The grey guy, Mercury, arched an eyebrow down at her.

Ruby didn’t bother to ask if Emerald was in. She didn’t know this guy well, still she’d seen enough to know he wouldn’t have moved if someone else was around to answer the door instead, which left her with a big problem.

Normally she wouldn’t trust her first sort-of love letter with a stranger, but if she kept the letter she’d definitely lose her nerve and shred it or feed it to Zwei. So.

“Uh, hey.” Flashing a grin that was probably kind of manic, Ruby pushed the envelope at him and started backing away.

“Can you give that to Emerald when you see her next? And also please don’t look inside, thanks!”

She spun and bolted before he could even blink.

Oh man she shouldn’t have done that she shouldn’t have done that the letter was stupid  _she_  was stupid-  _wait maybe she could just snatch it back and forget she ever wrote it!_

Ruby made a sharp U turn at the end of the hall and dashed back.

“You know what actually on second thought-”

With a smirk Mercury shut the door a split-second before she reached him. Ruby hit face first and bounced off like a pinball, yelping in pain.

“Ow! Hey!” Staggering back over she knocked frantically, glancing around to make sure no one had seen. “Mercury right? Hey, I’ve kinda changed my mind about the letter, so if you’d just slide it under the door or something…”

Mercury’s response sent ice flooding down Ruby’s spine.

“I know a confession when I see one, cookie kid.” He called back through the painted wood, sounding smug as hell. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure your ‘strawberry eyed’ love gets the note.”

Ruby gaped at the shut door for a full minute.

“You read it!” She shrieked, pulling her hood down over her face. “I asked you not to! I even said  _please!_ ”

“And I’ll be sure to mention you’re good manners when I hand this over.” The big grey jerk promised with open amusement.

A strangled sound came out of Ruby’s throat, somewhere between a growl and a whimper. Turning on her heel for the third time she sprinting blindly away.

The ‘blindly’ part meant she ran straight into someone rounding the corner, again sending Ruby falling back with a yelp.

Sitting up Ruby huffed- she was being all kinds of an idiot today- and scrambled to apologize.

“Sorry! Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“No problem.” Came the reply in a voice that squeezed the air out of Ruby’s lungs. “Being a speed demon probably comes with its share of complications, like brining all that speed to a sudden stop.”

Emerald smiled, still somehow on her feet, and leaned down to offer a hand up like she had the first time they crashed into each other.

Ruby took the hand mutely, not sure for a moment where her voice had gone.

A faint pinch of concern creased Emerald’s red eyes when Ruby didn’t say anything. She took a step closer, smile fading into worry, and Ruby’s heart nearly exploded in her chest when she realized neither of them had let go of the other’s hand.

“Ruby?” Emerald prodded. “You alright?”

“Hhh-yes.” Ruby just about managed to slur out. “Yes. Yep. I’m good, just, sorry I keep banging into you, really.”

She tried to put on a reassuring smile but there was already a huge grin spreading across her face. Her name sure sounded great the way Emerald said it.

The grin brought Emerald’s smile back even if she didn’t seem totally convinced by Ruby excuse.

“It really is fine.” She said again, eyes twinkling. “I can think of _plenty_  worse people to bump into than you.”

_Oh._ Rubythought dazedly. 

So maybe wasn’t exactly the strongest most blatant of compliments, it didn’t matter. Ruby felt like she was floating right off the floor.

Then she remembered the letter and dread squashed out everything else like a canon-bombing glacier.

Ruby tugged her hand free, wished she’d been smart enough to memorize how it felt to hold hands with Emerald while she had the chance, and slipped past the other girl with a wave.

“Well nice talking to you but I’ve gotta go, uh, do stuff! Leader stuff! Stuff like that, yeah- See you around Emerald!”

Breaking into a run, she caught a glimpse of Emerald’s expression going from surprised to curious. 

Her weird, freaked out behavior had  _definitely_ been noticed, and there was no way she’d ever be able to play cool about sending the letter was there?

Now Emerald was going to go read her letter and get freaked out too, never be able to look at Ruby with a straight face again, never going to be able to be friends with her again either.

Skidding to a halt once she was outside Ruby stumbled over to a patch of park and flopped down under a tree.

“Somebody just bury me here.” She croaked. “Here lies Ruby Rose, even a bigger dunce when she’s in love.”

A moment later she heard what she’d just said shot up to check if anyone else had as well.

“Whew...” She breathed, seeing no one.

Falling back Ruby stared up at the flickers of sky beyond the tree’s softly whooshing branches, trying to pretend that the warmth in her chest had to do with the sunshine even though she was almost completely in the shade.

Love was a pretty big word, after all. She hadn’t even had a chance to hang out with Emerald one-on-one yet, and probably never would, not after this big fat fiasco.

And with that little stinging thought in mind, Ruby shut her eyes and decided to indulge in a little dream while she still could.

A dream where maybe, impossibly, Emerald might just want to spend more time with her too.


End file.
